Delta has lost another important storyteller.

Historian and researcher Gwen Szychter, a longtime advocate for the preservation of the community's heritage values, passed away last Friday after a courageous battle with cancer.

Szychter wrote several publications and had been involved with the Delta Museum and Archives and Delta's Heritage Advisory Committee.

A recipient of the Heritage Conservation Award of Honour by the Heritage Society of B.C. and one of the first recipients of the Corporation of Delta's Friends of Heritage Award, Szychter will be sorely missed, said Coun. Anne Peterson, who's also on the heritage commission.

"Gwen had her priorities straight. She knew the value of our history and how it develops our future, she knew that," Peterson told the Optimist Monday.

"We'll be hard pressed to find someone the same calibre as Gwen in the community, that's for sure...we lost (former Delta Optimist columnist) Edgar (Dunning) last year and Gwen told stories in her own way through books. With the two of them passing we have a great hole in our story telling resources to remind us what Delta is all about."

Earlier this year Szychter's second book of historical fiction, Sarah in New Westminster, went on sale.

Szychter used her extensive knowledge of local history to draw a picture of the life in which a woman named Sarah could have participated in during the 1880s. In addition, Szychter researched the history of New Westminster for that period.

Details on funeral services were to be announced.

sgyarmati@delta-optimist.com